A/N: This is my official birthday fic that I'm posting two hours early. So shoot me.

I was watching Saiyuki and working through Marc's memories, when I got up to when she met Vergere. And I realized- I miss Vergere. I miss Vergere so incredibly much, and with her the rest of the Coalition. Seriously, I don't know how I'm going to make it through the next twenty-two days. And after that…

The whiteboard in the kitchen now reads, "The end of the world is in 22 days." My siblings have memorized the date October 27. And I'm busy watching Goku, Hakkai, Gojyo, and Sanzo?

I'm going to enjoy the Coalition while it lasts. And I won't waste a second more…

----

Marc stared out into the darkness that was the emptiness of a world of twelve and wept inwardly.

So much… so much has been lost. And I know that in twenty-one days, this whole world will be gone.

But I still have so many questions…

How WILL it end? How will a universe, no, a slew of universes, come to an end?

When will I be forced to concede that the world is gone?

Will I even be around at the end? Or will I be like Lucretia, a spirit trapped in another's body, watching helplessly as the rest of us fight off demons?

TREbrat…

In the distance, Marc could hear Eliana Greenleaf's voice, weaving a song of sorrow as she faced the destruction that was once the TREA.

"Mother."

Marc turned. Chaviva had begun calling her "Mother" recently. Another casualty of the loss of a world. "What's wrong?"

"Do I sound depressed?" Actually, Chaviva sounded almost amused.

"Something's always wrong these days."

"If you can call them days," Chaviva mused, gazing upwards at the sky. "Do you ever miss them?"

"Miss what?" Marc cocked her head. The answer should be obvious, no matter what the question…

Chaviva's answer, however, wasn't what Marc had expected. "The stars."

"The stars?" For the first time, Marc really looked at the dark night sky. The stars, of course, as Zubenelle, no longer shone, yet somehow, Marc hadn't really thought of that as a terrible loss. Too much had happened to weep over the stars.

And yet…

Natsuhiboshi, naze akai?

Yuube kanashii yume wo mita

Naite hanashita

Akai me wo

Natsuhiboshi naze mayou?

Kieta warashi wa sou shitteiru

Dakara kanashii yume wo miru

"Yes." Marc forced a smile. "I miss them."

--

"Are you ever happy?" Won Taskme asked David thoughtfully.

David looked at him. "Happy? Are you crazy? What's there to be happy about? My world is gone, and we'll all be dead in twenty-one days. What's to be happy about?"

Won laughed. "That's all true, yes, but before you were discovered as a Remainder, you were imprisoned… frozen, even. Just like the rest of the world is now. You're free."

David looked down. Is that wrong? Is it wrong to be happy that I'm mobile again, that I'm HUMAN again?

Then he understood.

Boku no koe ja marude chiisastugite

Kimi wa henji mo shinai

Kimi ga naiteru

Hitoride naiteru

Boku wa dou suru

Boku mo naiteru no sa

David blinked. "Actually," he whispered, "it may have been better for me not to be freed."

--

"Chaviva?" Chaviva grimaced. Half of Designated Squad Three was probably searching for her, but she didn't care. There was something she had to do, and they weren't going to stop her.

"Kunimitsu…" she whispered, stealing a glance to the other side of the room, where her husband sat, frozen in time.

She could almost hear his voice, resonating through her head. "Do you have any regrets, Chaviva?"

"Regrets," she spoke aloud. "What kind of regrets? In a time like this…?"

"Wonder about what?" Trump frowned. Why was he wasting his time here? He was essentially the last of Violet's Hand, but instead of setting fire to BEC's tennis courts and giving Marc yet another mystery to deal with, he was stuck sipping tea with the most formidable dataman of Ouran High School Host Club. At MARC's behest. Why did he even bother?

"What would have happened if the Coalition didn't end?" Kyouya pushed his glasses further up his nose. "What would you be doing right now?"

Trump smirked. Probably a little more than burning down tennis courts and sipping tea with you.

He wasn't a big enough fool to actually vocalize his thoughts. Instead, he just shrugged and smiled. "Who knows?"

Later that day, he finally made his way to BEC. Time to commit some arson.

Then Eliana began singing again, in the same sorrowful way she sang every night.